Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Chicken Tip #1

While others are filling brooders with loads of chicks, I am being content with my grown hens. I am not having the need for peeps this year for some reason. That doesn't mean I don't have ideas from the past that I'd like to share, that were very helpful to me.

Man has yet to invent a chicken waterer that can be debris free. Especially when it comes to chick waterers. If there aren't shavings, or feed, or poop in the water, then then they've tipped the entire thing over---usually both. I've come up with a way to fight both problems. If you'll look at the pictures above, you'll notice that I've placed nails in a board, rocket science, I know. They are placed just a bit closer together than the base of the waterer. The base is fairly flexible and you can gently force it in between the nails. It holds on tight, but can be removed and washed out when necessary. The piece of wood is big enough that it keeps it from being tipped over. It's also high enough that it keeps the majority of the shavings and food out of the water. As the chicks grow, I put something like bricks under the whole thing to raise it higher. The wood base should also not be big enough that they can linger on it and poop in the water. I don't have a photo of it, but I've put an aluminum pie plate on the top, secured with Playdough, to keep them from perching on the top.

To wrap up---supplies you'll need are:

A square piece of board, not too big, not too small.

2 Nails

Pie Plate

Playdough

2 bricks

Good luck. While chickens have pea sized brains, they'll always figure out a way to outsmart us. This tip actually worked for me until they were out of the brooder. I should patent it or share it with folks online, huh?

Um, yeah...poop and shavings. I'm cleaning the chickie babies' water out, oh, probably 5 times a day right now. I've raised it up, too, but they're getting so boisterous, I'm really worried about them knocking it over and making a real mess in their cardboard box. The nails are a good idea!